Yeast Found In Ancient Grape and Asian Rice Wine Is Used to Make Today’s Beer

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae is a species of yeast that’s often referred to as “brewer’s yeast.” Humans have harvested this resource since ancient times. It has different strains used to make different kinds of wines, beers, and even baked products. What’s baffling is that, although yeast has been mentioned in countless history pages, its place of origin remains unclear.

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Justin Fay, a scholar from the University of Rochester, led a team of researchers to investigate where these yeast strains originated. Their study concluded that its ancestral roots come from a variety that was used to make European grape and Asian rice wines. Their findings were published in the open-access journal, PLOS Biology, and suggested that a transfer of methods and techniques on fermentation happened at some point in history between the East and West. The marrying of two cultures created a strain of yeast that today’s world would use to make beer.

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Yeasts are single-celled microorganisms with the ability to ferment carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Over 1,500 species are making them very common in the natural environment. Despite the ancient world not knowing anything about microbes, yeast is one of the earliest domesticated organisms.

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A DNA analysis is the easiest way to understand the origins of organisms, but scientists find it difficult to conduct an analysis on yeasts, since data on ancient fermented beverages is limited. One helpful thing that they used was the fact that they have two sets of chromosomes, called ‘polyploid.’ This means that they have isolated themselves for centuries due to their passive characteristics. The team compared the genomes of the fresh beer yeast to their database of strains from diverse geographic locations. They concluded that inside today’s typical bear is a mixture of European grape wine and Asian rice wine yeast strains. It strongly suggests that a cross of brewing technology between different nations happened in ancient times.

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The famous piece of cloth that to this day resides in St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Turin, north Italy has been the subject of much research and investigation. However, no one has discovered the true origins of the shroud; and the question of whether it was the linen which Jesus Christ was buried in or not is still shrouded in mystery.

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The linen is rectangular and has a measurement of 4.4 by 1.1 meters. It has a subtle hint of an image of a naked man with his hands folded across his groin. The face marking shows a beard, mustache, and shoulder-length hair. There are reddish-brown stains on the cloth as well that is believed to be blood from Jesus wounds.

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While the Catholic Church has not officially acknowledged nor rejected the shroud, Pope Pius XII did approve of the image as Jesus Christs face in 1958. However, while the shroud does have an imprint of a face and body of someone who had suffered a similar fate than that of Jesus, there is still no evidence of how the markings were truly created.

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Scientists have been trying to prove its validity by conducting radiocarbon testing, but the tests, performed in 1988, yielded negative results. According to three different laboratory tests, the shroud only dated back to the Middle Ages, evidence that it could not have been the same linen Jesus wore, as his crucifixion took place at a much earlier time.

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However, many still believe it to be genuine, sparking many debates about the mysterious relic. Some researchers even questioned the validity of the carbon dating, suggesting that the results may have been skewed due to some material from the Middle Ages possibly contaminating the cloth. Scientists have refuted this claim, sticking to their initial finding.

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Even though the Church has never truly endorsed the shroud, numerous steps have been taken to preserve and restore its condition. It is safely kept in an airtight case under bulletproof glass. The casings temperature and humidity levels are controlled. The case is also filled with oxygen and argon to hinder chemical changes.